The jazz fusion band will drop an all-star collection on February 6 comprised of their Billboard No. 1s, remastered favorites, and three new songs bound to be hits.
When you’ve been fronting a band for forty-four years as Emmy-winning guitarist Chieli Minucci has for GRAMMY® nominated jazz fusion group Special EFX, you learn how to read audiences and give them what they want. The music industry has changed dramatically over those decades and Minucci noticed that since there’s now a scarcity of radio stations that play contemporary jazz, audiences aren’t as familiar with his band’s new music as they should be - even when those singles climb to the top of the national charts. Minucci recognizes that his audiences crave nostalgia and heeding the demand to “play the hits,” he assembled a collection of Special EFX’s remastered favorites and seven of their Billboard No. 1 singles along with three new songs that bode to become hits. “The Hits” is available for pre-orders now ahead of its February 6 release from Chieli Music.
Minucci, who founded Special EFX with Hungarian percussionist George Jinda, curated the 14-song “The Hits” from the band’s 25 albums that has scored eight Billboard No. 1 hits and a GRAMMY® nomination for 1985’s “Modern Manners” album. Even prior to Jinda’s passing in 2002, Special EFX albums have always been all-star projects featuring solos and performances by prominent recording artists and first-call session musicians. The list of GRAMMY® winners and nominees, chart-toppers, and noteworthy players on “The Hits” includes Warren Hill, Eric Marienthal, Paul Brown, Michael Paulo, Elan Trotman, Nicholas Cole, Lin Rountree, Oli Silk, David Mann, Roberto Vally, Greg Vail, Shane Theriot, Ron King, Omar Hakim, and Lionel Cordew.
Musically, “The Hits” highlights Special EFX’s distinct brand of contemporary jazz, fusion, world music, and blues. Minucci wrote and produced the album except for “Lavish,” which Cole wrote and produced.
“The Hits” opens with a new recording of one of Special EFX’s best known songs, the fusion heavy “Uptown East.”
“I recreated the piece using the template of the original. It's a live-in-the-studio recording with slight variations from decades of playing it live in concert. I recorded it with my East Coast EFX band: Joel Rosenblatt on drums, Jerry Brooks on bass, and Jay Rowe on keyboards,” said the New York City-based Minucci.
“Blue Lagoon” was the first hit that was performed entirely by Minucci as a one-man-band. His cool electric jazz guitar floats amidst an island vibe over a reggae rhythm.
Playing nylon-string guitar, Minucci’s first collaboration with two-time GRAMMY-winning producer Brown is “Cool Summer,” which was a Billboard No. 1 hit last year and appears on an album for the first time.
Mann’s saxophone is a prominent voice on “Kickin’ It Hard,” punching and counterpunching Minucci’s electric guitar hits.
The first new composition on “The Hits” is “Waterfall,” a rousing fount of cascading melody and excitement inducing rhythms.
“It’s a brand-new piece I wrote as a live concert opening number. It's a wonderful fusion of styles, a pop instrumental. When we played this at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, Eric Marienthal wailed on his alto sax. I saw the crowd get up on their feet and cheer. So, here he is again, rocking out in a way folks don’t often hear. The song has a rock meets jazz feel. Time will tell if it becomes one of ‘the hits,'” Minucci shared.
Collaborating with Cole to create “Lavish” came at the suggestion of a record label executive.
“Bringing in an outside songwriter and producer was a new experience for this salty dog. What surprised and interested me was Nicholas’s direction. He wrote a couple of songs that sounded like Special EFX-style pieces. ‘Lavish’ came out great with its fresh and interesting arrangement and became a big hit. It’s a beautiful, melodic piece with a lot of passion,” said Minucci who has also released nine solo albums.
The version of “You Make Me Blue” on “The Hits” is a bluesier version than the original that appears on Special EFX’s 1993 “Love Your Smile” album. Alan Grubner’s electric violin issues a searing solo on the single that became a staple on SiriusXM’s Watercolors playlist.
“Meant To Be” is the second Minucci-Brown collab and once again, they created a Billboard No. 1 hit earlier this year. “The Hits” is the first time the Brown-produced single appears on an album.
“This was an unusual experience for me as it was the first song for which I simply wrote the melodies. The song was already half-produced, an unfinished 'rhythm track' when I first heard it. It immediately felt like a Special EFX kind of song - moody, melodic, even a bit worldly and exotic,” Minucci explained.
Another Billboard No. 1 hit, “Dreams” is a sensual dalliance between Hill’s sultry alto sax and Minucci’s electric guitar.
“Been So Long” is slated to be released as a single early next year. It’s a “new” collaboration between Minucci and “American Idol” finalist Elliott Yamin.
“When I started writing the song a few years back, I asked Elliott (Yamin) to write some lyrics and melodies to it. He'd been performing as a guest with the Special EFX All-Stars from time to time, and it seemed like a good fit for us to write together. I don't know how many times I nudged him, but after a couple of years he sang some ideas into his iPhone in his back yard. That creative noodling turned out to be the basis for the main melody,” shared Minucci.
“Marbella” is the first new single released from “The Hits,” which dropped in October. It’s the third track produced by Brown, who has produced over sixty Billboard No. 1 hits.
“Marbella, Spain is my fantasy vacation. The song is so romantic. I wrote the melodies against the backing groove. Michael Paulo laid down a beautiful, heartfelt sax solo. I am optimistic that all will hear this beauty,” enthused Minucci.
Jinda’s percussion decorates “Passions,” yet he was passionately against the band’s record label releasing the song as a single. Minucci explains, “‘Passions’ was regularly performed at all our shows and was a radio hit. You'd hear this song every time you turned on that ‘smooth jazz radio station,’ wherever you were. Mark Johnson's sax work was the icing on the cake. George (Jinda) didn't want this song to be released as the lead-off single from our ‘Catwalk’ album. He felt that Special EFX needed to go in a funk/acid jazz direction. ‘Passions’ was a classic EFX smoothie and we argued about this. In the end, the record label made the final call, and I am glad they did!”
“Till The End Of Time” was recorded differently. Drummer Hakim and bassist Brooks laid down the rhythm track after the guitar and keyboards, which was the reverse of Minucci’s usual method. It worked: the single went No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
Closing the collection the same way most Special EFX concerts close, “Cruise Control” ends on a high note with exuberant energy, relentless funk grooves, and a nasty piano solo from Roger Smith, a longtime member of Tower of Power.
Minucci maintains a busy touring schedule, playing Special EFX shows in a variety of settings with a variety of lineups, and European tours with Djabe, a well-known Hungarian jazz fusion group with whom he will tour next year. A masterful guitar player, Minucci has played or recorded with Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez, Donny Osmond, Jewel, Marc Anthony, Michael Bolton, Rupert Holmes, Anastasia, and legends Eartha Kitt and Eddie Fisher. In the contemporary jazz space, he’s collaborated with GRAMMY® winners Kirk Whalum, Jeff Lorber, and Norman Brown as well as with Maysa, Marion Meadows, Mindi Abair, Rick Braun, Gerald Veasley, Bernie Williams, and Lao Tizer.
In other media, Minucci is an accomplished film and television composer having won three Emmy Awards from his ten nominations. He has music on the film soundtracks for “No Country for Old Men,” “Bowfinger,” “Legally Blonde,” and “Panic.” Minucci also scored live stage productions of “Peter Pan,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Thomas the Tank Engine,” and others.
“The Hits” contains the following songs:
“Uptown East”
“Blue Lagoon”
“Cool Summer”
“Kickin’ It Hard”
“Waterfall”
“Lavish”
“You Make Me Blue”
“Meant To Be”
“Dreams”
“Been So Long”
“Marbella”
“Passions”
“Till The End Of Time”
“Cruise Control”
To pre-order “The Hits” via Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon and download “Been So Long” for free, go to https://hypeddit.com/specialefx/thehits.
For more information, visit https://chielimusic.com.
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